HTX Tied to Russian Money Laundering Scheme, UK Sanctions List Reveals
The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) added HTX's Seychelles-based entity to its Russia sanctions list in May 2026, making it the first G7 country to directly place a global top-10 centralized exchange on an asset freeze list.
HTX had long ranked among CoinGecko's top ten and presented itself as a compliant platform. However, an investigation revealed that HTX may have helped Russia launder money through its ties with A7 LLC, the company behind the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5.
A7A5 was created to fill a gap in the Russian financial system, allowing rubles to be converted directly into USDT onchain. This enabled Russia to circumvent Western banking restrictions and settle transactions with other countries.
The UK's designation of HTX cited 'reasonable grounds to suspect' that it had provided financial services to A7 LLC and Garantex Europe OU, both entities operating in sectors of strategic significance to the Russian government.